How to Trigger Your Startup to be Innovative

What are the requirements of stand-out startups? Most of them are innovative enough to catch people’s attention.

Luckily, even early-stage startups can be innovative. Uber and Tesla might be the example of sexy startups which offers innovation for its consumers. They are the kind of startups that make into headlines.

Disrupt. It is a word that has been popular in the startup world. Any startup understands that they have to disrupt the status quo than to wait for others to do it. Again, it is called innovation. So, let’s aim to build an innovative startup than, say, successful or profitable startup.

In fact, we are living in an era of rapid changes. Thus, only disruptive innovations count. A startup without a tangible touch of innovation would be hard to survive. Unfortunately, very few startups realise their full potential through innovation. This may be one of the reasons that a staggering 90% of startups fail within their first five years.

But, how could you possibly make your startup to be innovative? Well, it depends on you as the founder! If you are determined enough to lead a startup that breeds creativity, you will follow these tips:

Keep ideas flowing

Any innovative idea is a great starter. You and your team could drop one to three ideas that come to your mind. Discussions and arguments might follow, as the team is thinking about how the idea can make a real difference and impact the market. Note: please forget about monetising first. That way, you might get more wild ideas to discuss.

Many innovation-driving startup founders are setting up a fast track for ideas. They regain their sense of innovation by setting up a high-perform idea system for their employees. The system is capable of implementing 20 to 100 ideas per person in a year!

If you are in doubt over the quality of those countless ideas, just remember that often many smaller ideas are required to get them to work effectively (or in some cases even to work at all). We all realise that large innovations are novel and complex, right?

With that in mind, we could rely on large number of small ideas. It might creates substantial new capabilities that allow your startup to offer innovative products and services. As the founder, empower your employees to be creative in finding ideas. Their ‘little’ ideas might surprise you, and be a difference between your startup to your competitors.

Always transform your startup

Changes are good, especially at your startup. Sometimes, when your startup is well-established, you tend to avoid changes. For example, you are happy to have submissive employees and yes-men (or women). Try to get out from this comfort zone by bringing in creative people to the team. Those creative ones are usually challenging your thinking and assumptions. Don’t be a rigid startup! That is the only way to keep innovation going in your startup.

Why don’t you try changing things every now and then? Hear suggestions from your team. It shows them how much you appreciate their proposals. Moreover, it keeps your startup full of ideas as mentioned on the first point.

Set the innovative culture, as well as the budget

So, you wish that every single person of the team is creative. Imagine they keep talking about the project idea with each other. But, it is often not that simple. Setting an innovative culture within your startup may need some funds. Thus, you should also set the budget for innovation.

When your employees know that the money is available, they are willing to go ahead and invest themselves on giving innovative ideas. As the founder, you should be able to take new ideas and develop them into profitable ventures. Remember, the idea also needs the test and trial for development and refining.